Duke Stifles Cal, 78-57

Welcome to Cameron Indoor Stadium, Bears

The outcome of this game was never in doubt, as the 12-12 California Golden Bears traveled to 3rd-ranked and conference leading Duke Blue Devils. The 21-3 Blue Devils were looking for a bounceback opportunity after their upset loss to Clemson this past Sunday. There would be no miracles, as Duke dominated in all aspects of the game right from the tipoff.

Jeremiah Wilkinson continued his strong play, scoring with 21 points to lead Cal

Cal took a few minutes to get their footing at Cameron Indoor Stadium, falling behind 0-7 while missing their first four shots. An offensive rebound and putback by Mady Sissoko finally got Cal on the board, as the Bears went on a 7-2 run to close the gap to 9-7 at the first TV timeout of the game.

Duke turned up the defense, extending their pressure on the ball handler out to near midcourt. Cal could not execute the crisp pass when under pressure, and became indecisive on offense. Over the next 8 minutes, Cal had 2 shot clock violations, 3 other turnovers and shot 2-of-6 from the field. Duke executed their offense to near perfection, hitting 3-of-4 long range shots as they built a 30-17 lead. The Blue Devils were able to extend their lead to 15 at halftime 38-23.

The Blue Devils defense smothered Cal. There were very few clean looks for the Bears, who shot 29% for the half. Andre Stojakovic and Jeremiah Wilkinson combined for 14 of Cal’s 23 points on 5-of-17 shooting. Duke’s Cooper Flagg had 13 points in 14 minutes, getting interior penetration whenever he wanted scoring 6 points in the paint and 4 points at the free throw line.

The second half was not any better. Duke’s defense continued to bind up Cal’s offense, and Cal had no answer for Cooper Flagg and the rest of the Blue Devils. Duke largest lead was 26 near the 10-minute mark, as they cruised to the 78-57 victory.

Jeremiah Wilkinson led Cal with 21 points. Cooper Flagg lived up to the hype, leading Duke with 27 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Flagg also added 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

There isn’t much to analyze about this one. Duke’s lineup has no one shorter than 6’ 5”. They gave no room to the shorter Cal guards who were unable to get good shooting or passing looks. As pointed out multiple times during the telecast, Cal has the worst team shooting percentage in the ACC. When the early shots don’t fall, Cal has a tendency to fall into an offensive rut of perimeter passing then a rushed drive or long-range shot. I’d like to see a few sets designed to go inside earlier in the shot clock, or a return of some of the 3-man motion sets from last season. But, it’s probably a little unfair to harp on the team, playing on the road at the #3 team in the country and coming fresh off a loss.

Cal’s defense had their moments, but overall were just outworked by their superior opponent. Duke shot 46% for the game, 36% from 3-point range. Duke won the rebounding battle 43 to 31. Cal was susceptible to the drive and dish, and were caught out of position on multiple occasions.

A few other notes;

• The lone bright spot for Cal was the play of Jeremiah Wilkinson. He grew in confidence as the game went on, and continued to be aggressive. Wilkinson shot 6-of-9 on the second half for 15 points, 21 points for the game. He also led the team in assists with 3 (tied with Jovan Blacksher Jr).

• The Cal bench played 54 total minutes, and contributed 3 total points(all from Lee Dort) and 10 rebounds.

• Madsen inserted walk-ons Jay Karapetian, Matt Desler, and Jack McCloskey into the game with just over a minute left. It was a nice gesture to give them playing time in the iconic Cameron Stadium. Desler collected a steal.

Cal (12-13, 5-9) plays Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Saturday. Though Cal will be underdogs, this will be a winnable game. Tech is currently also 12-13 overall, 6-8 in conference play. Cal’s goal should be to finish in the top 9 of the conference standings so as to avoid a first round game in the ACC tournament and have a favorable second round pairing. There are eight teams with between 7 and 9 conference losses. Saturday’s game give Cal a chance to make up ground within this group.